Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the motto and the two versions of the dedication in Endymion in relation to William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Thomas Chatterton (1752-70). In April 1818, John Keats (1795-1821) published Endymion which consisted of about 4,000 lines and whose theme was a Greek myth. Before the Preface on the opening page, the motto, "The stretched metre of an antique song" which is a line from Shakespeare's Sonnet XVII, and the dedication to Thomas Chatterton saying, "INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS CHATTERTON," are displayed. In the context of Sonnet XVII, Keats reads that "The stretched metre of an antique song" is the passage in which the poet's irritation that posterity will not understand his works is included with his attitude of superfical humility. As Keats says in his letter (Rollins, Letters I 266-67), he also has an ostensible humility and dis-satisfaction with his reading public. Therefore the passage is most suitable for expressing Keats's feelings. Moreover, it seems that Keats intends to suggest that his works are equivalent to Shakespeare's, which seems to give an indication of Keats's defensive response to the critics' attack in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. According to Keats's definition of Chatterton in the first dedication which was not published, Chatterton is "THE MOST ENGLISH OF POETS EXCEPT SHAKESPEARE," and he is a poet whose life is implied to symbolize that of Keats. Keats's real intention in putting Shakespeare and Chatterton on the opening page of Endymion is that he wants them to protect him from public attacks on his works as "the advance guard" - a body of soldiers guarding, defending, and attacking an enemy to protect the main body of an army, suggesting the readiness of Keats to make his own strong way in poetry.
